The Green Bay Packers announced the release of six players on Sunday — wide receivers Alex Gillett, Omarius Hines and Justin Wilson, running back Angelo Pease, defensive tackle Gilbert Pe&ntilde;a and No. 2 quarterback Graham Harrell — but included in that news was one addition: Kicker Zach Ramirez, a rookie out of Portland State who participated in the Seattle Seahawks' rookie camp this spring after going undrafted.

Ramirez becomes the third kicker on the Packers' roster, joining incumbent Mason Crosby and challenger Giorgio Tavecchio. Crosby and Tavecchio have been dueling throughout training camp for the job.

Ramirez, a 6-foot, 212-pound rookie out of Portland State, was named first-team All-America (FCS) by The Associated Press and earned first-team All-Big Sky Conference honors after connecting on a school-record 24 field goals on 27 attempts (88.9 percent) as a junior in 2011. Ramirez was limited to six games as a senior in 2012 due to a knee injury and made 4 of 7 field goals.

He will wear No. 1 for the Packers.

News of Harrell's release was reported by multiple media outlets Saturday. With seventh-round picks Kevin Dorsey and Charles Johnson finally healthy enough to play in Friday night's preseason game against Seattle, the Packers had to make moves at the wide receiver position.

The Packers still need to shave 10 players off their roster before Tuesday's 3 p.m. deadline to get down to 75 players.

I was pretty surprised when I first read we were bringing in a third kicker just days prior to the cut to 75. After doing some research on the guy though, I feel he has a real shot of making the roster.

When Masthay crushed a kickoff out of the endzone Friday, I immediately thought that would be significant to Tavecchio's chance of making the team, but now I'm beginning to think Giorgio will be out by tomorrow evening.

At this point I feel Crosby and Ramirez will make the final 53. Wouldn't be surprised to see Crosby start the season as our kicker, with Ramirez behind him developing and waiting for his opportunity if it arises (unless Ramirez impresses this week and manages to steal the job away somehow).

I was pretty surprised when I first read we were bringing in a third kicker just days prior to the cut to 75. After doing some research on the guy though, I feel he has a real shot of making the roster.

When Masthay crushed a kickoff out of the endzone Friday, I immediately thought that would be significant to Tavecchio's chance of making the team, but now I'm beginning to think Giorgio will be out by tomorrow evening.

At this point I feel Crosby and Ramirez will make the final 53. Wouldn't be surprised to see Crosby start the season as our kicker, with Ramirez behind him developing and waiting for his opportunity if it arises (unless Ramirez impresses this week and manages to steal the job away somehow).

Do you want your punter adding 3-5 extra kicks per game? 20 years ago, I wouldn't have thought about it, but they seem to really worry about leg fatigue nowadays. McCarthy said it wouldn't be smart to replicate the kicking competition they did the other day. 11 kicks. ELEVEN and they don't want to replicate that because it wouldn't be smart? I thought these guys were elite athletes?

Do you want your punter adding 3-5 extra kicks per game? 20 years ago, I wouldn't have thought about it, but they seem to really worry about leg fatigue nowadays. McCarthy said it wouldn't be smart to replicate the kicking competition they did the other day. 11 kicks. ELEVEN and they don't want to replicate that because it wouldn't be smart? I thought these guys were elite athletes?

I think McCarthy is just being overly cautious, which doesn't bother me in the slightest. Having them each kick eleven more wouldn't hurt anybody, but if it did somehow the blame would land on McCarthy.

These guys are elite athletes, and could kick all day if they wanted to. I believe Ramirez says he was kicking as much as 2 1/2 hours per day when he was bored and hoping for the phone to ring.

And no, I would not like Masthay to have to do kickoffs, but it was kind of a security blanket if Tavecchio had to be relied upon for field goal duties and was having trouble getting kickoffs deep enough. Like I said though, I don't see him being on the roster beyond today.

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